Page 128 of The Secret of Secrets

The project was now about to be completed, and yet the ambassador said anti-U.S. conspiracy theories still swirled: Folimanka Park was never really sagging…It was being rebuilt as a secret military prison…or a chemical weapons bunker. Another claimed that the deeper caverns didn’t even exist, and the U.S. was actually digging them—a suspicion fueled by the absence of any reliable Soviet-era blueprints outlining the full bunker, which either had never existed or had been effectively purged from history.

Whatever the truth was, Langdon had to admire the devilishly simple ploy, except for one glaring question. “Why build here?” he asked. “Why not locate Threshold in a warehouse in the Arizona desert?”

“Quite simple,” Nagel replied. “Crowded urban settings provide a level of camouflage from satellite surveillance, which is not something you get when transporting extensive materials and personnel to an isolated desert location. More intelligence facilities are being moved to urban centers now, and selecting a city outside the U.S. helps keep congressional oversight and domestic legal restrictions to a minimum.”

That last statement Langdon found ominous. “Why are you telling us all of this?” he asked, startled by the ambassador’s candor.

“Yes,” Katherine agreed. “It seems—”

“Treasonous?” The ambassador’s gaze turned distant. “My reasons are personal, but whatever ends up happening to me, please believe me when I tell you I will make it my first order of business to keep you both safe.”

Langdon knew there were many unanswered questions, but he was inclined to believe her.

“I need to warn you, though,” Nagel said, “you’re dealing with powerful forces. In the orbit of the CIA and Threshold, the stakes are unimaginably high—and frankly, people die.” She sighed and looked at Langdon and Katherine; for a fleeting moment it appeared she might cry. “Dr. Gessner was killed last night, but she’s not the only casualty. I just received word that my legal attaché, Michael Harris, was found dead half an hour ago.”

Langdon felt sickened as he recalled his interactions with Harris at the hotel just hours earlier. “I’m so very sorry.”

Nagel quietly explained that Harris’s body had been found in the apartment of Sasha Vesna, with whom Harris was having an “insincere” relationship as a form of surveillance ordered by Mr. Finch, who wanted to keep close tabs on Gessner’s Russian assistant. Sasha’s whereabouts were still unknown, but Nagel was not optimistic.

Langdon felt an immediate concern for Sasha’s safety.

The ambassador continued, pursing her lips and letting out a deep sigh. “I’m directly responsible for Michael Harris’s death…and I’ll carry that forever.” She raised her eyes to meet them both, forcing herself to stand straighter. “I have no idea how to start making amends for Michael, and for blindly going along with Finch’s orders…except that right now I know I need to do whatever is required to make this right and to protect you both.”

“How do you intend to do that?” Katherine pressed.

“We have three possible moves,” Nagel said. “Unfortunately, you’re not going to like any of them. The first option would be the safest. I would reprint the nondisclosure agreements, you would sign them, and you would have your meeting with Mr. Finch as planned, providing him the guarantee of silence he desires. This would essentially remove you from his radar, but it would likely mean you could never publish your book, and Ms. Solomon, there might be fields of study that you would no longer be completely free to pursue.”

“That’s not an option at all,” Katherine said flat out.

“Agreed,” Langdon said. “Second choice?”

“Option number two…” Nagel said, looking from one to the other. “We have about an hour until Finch gets here. We could leave right now. I drive you both immediately to the airport and get you out of the country. There would be repercussions, of course—for all three of us—but at least we would buy some time to come up with other solutions.”

“Such as?” Langdon asked.

“For one, Ms. Solomon could publish her book immediately. Its publication would provide some level of immunit—”

“My book is gone,” Katherine interjected. “It would take a very long time to re-create.”

“And even if she did have a copy,” Langdon noted, “it takes months for a book to be produced and published. Not to mention, wouldn’t a move like that make her a target of the CIA forever?”

“On some level, yes.”

“No thanks,” Katherine said. “I have no interest in looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. What’s the third option?”

Nagel was silent for a moment, as if formulating details in her mind. When she spoke, her tone was matter-of-fact, that of an attorney advising a client. “In the intelligence business, there is only one true source of power. Information. It is the only leverage anyone understands…and you are now in a position to receive a vast quantity of it. Remember, Mr. Finch believes you signed NDAs, and he is coming here to orchestrate a conversation that uses those NDAs against you. He’ll tell you as much as he possibly can—to ensure every topic he mentions is off-limits to you going forward. The more he tells you, the more information you will have…and therefore, the more leverage.”

Langdon realized they were playing with a pro. And playing with fire. Even so, Nagel’s plan hardly seemed as simple as she made it sound. “I understand how we obtain the information,” he said. “But then what?”

“I would help you,” she said. “We would entrust all the data to a third party—an outside attorney, for example—who would create a mechanism by which if anything happens to any of us, or we fail to touch base with him regularly, the information would be sent immediately to the press. Lawyers call it an ‘untimely death clause.’ ”

“I believe the word is ‘blackmail,’ ” Langdon said.

“In crude terms, yes. Though it’s perfectly legal.”

Katherine took a step backward. “You’re suggesting we blackmail the CIA…”

“Think of it as informational leverage, Ms. Solomon. Intelligence threats are a language these people speak and understand. If they attack you, they know they will suffer damage. And so they will leave you alone.”